Episode 13: Somewhere Beyond the Blue Sky
Shortly after the meeting had ended and the Harbingers dispersed, Diluc returned to the solace of his makeshift room.
The wooden door creaked shut behind him, and Diluc fell on the bed with a groan. This place felt like a den of snakes, with each one poised to strike at any time. He couldn't relax in such an environment, but there was still something else bothering him on top of that.
Sitting back up, he reached for his bag, which held a certain "something" he had lifted from a certain "scientist" amidst the chaos at the end of their failed mission.
He shuffled the stack of papers around, picking up where he had left off before.
The Shade seems to have transient properties on a level we have rarely seen. It pulses with a power that is vastly different from other delusions, and makes a mockery of our artificial creations. We must continue to search for a similar energy signature to compare it with. If we were to find such a signature, perhaps we could discover a method of unlocking it for use.
Diluc flipped the page, then kept reading.
The "Shade of Evernight" takes the shape of a tattered cloak, but we are not certain that it has always existed in this form. It seems to have spacial distortion capabilities, and has repeatedly "teleported" away when we have attempted to activate and use it as one normally would use a Delusion. For now, it is to remain inside chamber #9. We cannot afford another disappearing act.
"Maybe this was why he was important enough to get a Harbinger escort," Diluc muttered aloud.
Diluc had managed to steal these papers from Nikolai's pack just before he dropped that man off at Northland Bank. It was an incredibly risky thing to do, but that mission had left a bad taste in Diluc's mouth. Why would some random researcher need such a strong escort, and why was he in Liyue to begin with? Something about the man had piqued Diluc's interest - especially when his connection to Delusions was revealed.
"But just what is this?"
Diluc knew how Delusions worked. His father had fallen victim to the Evil Eye, and Diluc had subsequently spent a lot of time using it. The item described in this paper didn't match what he knew about Delusions at all. Something about it rekindled a morbid fascination that he had felt since he was a young boy. Perhaps it was because of the ties to his late father, but Diluc couldn't leave this alone.
Setting the papers down, Diluc reclined on the bed with his hands behind his head.
Well, I'll keep an ear to the ground. I'd certainly love to ruin their little factory, though…
With long-buried embers of vengeance flickering in his chest, Diluc attempted to fall asleep. However, the sensation of his wedding ring on his left hand nagged at him, never letting him forget what he had left behind. When he pictured his wife's crying face, sleep simply refused to come.
Opening Theme: Unlucky Morpheus - 夢幻
Snezhnaya: a land of frozen peaks and a six-month long winter. Those more accustomed to warmer climates might look down their nose at such a place, but not this man.
As he strolled along a quiet mountain path lined with dancing grass, his heart stung from the nostalgia.
That man was none other than Tartaglia - once known to the people of this country as 'Ajax'.
That day, the day after a meeting that may very well have changed the direction of the entire world, he had escaped to this remote place all alone. Miles away from the capital city, this trail was one he had walked many times in the past. It was the path to his old home - his sanctuary.
Childe took in the scenery in a daze. His steps blurred together with the past, in a world where his younger brother was still alive and well. His heart ached deeply, as if it was being burned directly by an open flame.
"God… why?" he muttered to himself.
He had carefully separated his work life from his private one. He had taken all the precautions to protect his loved ones from any dangers associated with his morally-grey position. He had lived a lie for years, putting on a mask of innocence when around them, even though that action only served to harden his heart beyond recognition. Why, after all that?
"Why did he have to die?"
A battle scarred man through and through, Childe had seen enough death to become cold and detached from it. This feeling in his chest was something he had forgotten all about.
It was grief. He was grieving.
After the initial shell-shock had worn off, what remained was a dull ache and an emptiness deep inside his heart that could not be filled.
After stumbling listlessly out of HQ that morning, his steps had taken him here, to the grassy knolls and rocky peaks where he had been born. On the path just ahead, the house where he grew up was still there, nestled in a small hanging valley next to a crystal clear mountain stream. He could never dream of showing up there now, though. It was much too soon to tell his family that one of them had left the world behind forever, and his negligence had allowed it.
And so, taking a path that his young legs had tread countless times, he began to climb up higher. Near a bend in the trail, among a stand of fir trees, a rocky outcrop stood imposingly over the vast valley beyond.
This was his secret place.
With a sigh, he walked to the edge and sat down. His boots dangled over the edge absentmindedly as he surveyed his old stomping grounds.
To his left, his childhood home was barely visible through the trees. Ahead, a vast valley stretched out, eventually meeting the great river that flowed southwest towards the sea. To his right, the outskirts of the capital dotted the landscape like ants, and further beyond, the walls of the city stood tall and proud.
As the breeze tousled his brown bangs, he gazed even further into the distance. Celestia hung above the distant peaks like a small jewel against the azure-blue sky.
In a place like this, he felt strangely at peace. His aching heart finally took a breather, and his clenched jaw loosened. He laid back on the outcrop, staring up at the endless firmament as his mind drifted far away.
Soon, his eyes closed, and sleep overtook him.
"Please, don't do this! Just leave!"
A desperate female voice cried out in the darkness.
"I can't leave you! They're going to raze this place to the ground!"
"Stop! Don't tell me any more! They're always listening, you know that!"
"I don't care! I can't just leave you to die!"
The other voice cracked, as her tears obviously overflowed.
"We'll manage. I'll escape somehow, and we can meet up again after their anger cools. I promise."
"Promise? You swear it?"
"I swear."
Suddenly, a blood-red sunset filled his vision.
Screams of utter agony tore through the air, and turning to their source, he quickly wished he hadn't done so.
"…Columbina…?"
He whispered her name, and felt a sudden vertigo as the hideous scene he was viewing fell away.
It was replaced by a deep blue sky, and a pale, gentle smile looking down on him.
"Huh? What… where am I?"
Childe moved his neck, and discovered that it was resting on something strangely soft compared to his expectations.
"Aw, you were sleeping so peacefully, too. You don't have to get up yet, you know?"
The angelic woman gently cupped his face with her cold, small hands, then brushed his hair with her fingers.
"Damselette?! What the hell?"
Now fully awake, Childe realized his situation: he had been sleeping like a baby on Columbina's thighs. His chest burned in a different way than before, and he turned his head to the side.
"Fuckin' hell, what are you doing here?" he continued to lambast her, but didn't sit up yet.
"I happened to pass by, and you seemed so defenseless. I simply couldn't leave you alone."
After that, Childe sat up abruptly, roughing up his hair.
"Couldn't you see I wanted to be alone?"
Exasperated, Childe put some distance between him and the enigmatic woman.
"I'm sure you did," she replied softly.
"Then get out of here already! And don't try to seduce me again!"
"Seduce? Don't misunderstand, I was merely offering up this slender, yet tantalizingly-soft body for your purposes."
"That's even worse!"
Columbina chuckled daintily, then turned her head away from him.
"I must apologize, though. It seems you saw something unnecessary."
Still hazy from waking up, his mind slowly comprehended what she meant when he remembered a vague image of the dream he just saw. He glared at her for a few seconds before responding.
"You were reading my mind?"
"Not quite. We may have connected for a bit, though."
"What's that supposed to mean…?"
"Don't worry, I certainly didn't see all of your innermost desires towards me, all laid bare."
"You damn…" he frowned, trailing off.
"Hey, Childe."
He met her "gaze", which felt just as strange as always. He could almost count every one of her long eyelashes as they rested on her smooth cheeks.
"Yeah?"
"I wasn't lying to you back then. I really do know how that young man rewound time."
Surprised by the sudden mood change, Childe turned toward her and crossed his legs, still sitting.
"How do you know?" he asked, his eyes serious.
"Because I know the one who did it," she replied with a somewhat bitter smile.
"W-What?" he stuttered, his eyebrows flying up.
"I knew her very well, a long, long time ago… but…"
Childe stared intently at her, awaiting her next words.
"No, I've already said too much. My apologies for showing you something so awful."
"Columbina…"
"You said something similar when you woke up," she giggled girlishly.
"Damn it, stop trying to toy with me. I'm not your plaything," he grumbled, standing up and dusting off his trousers.
Columbina remained seated, though, and spoke up again before Childe could make his exit.
"I'm sorry for your loss. I know you must be hurting."
"Wha-" Childe cut himself off, thrown off again by her utterly unpredictable behavior.
"I can feel your heart. I understand your pain."
"Oi, shut the fuck up," he muttered under his breath, his expression dark and dangerous.
Her eyebrows raised behind her ornate blindfold.
"Did I say something wrong?"
"Just because it ain't wrong doesn't mean you can just say it. I'm sick of your haughty attitude. Stop acting like you understand everything."
In response, Columbina was quiet and docile, hanging her head before speaking up again.
"Childe, we were blessed with a gift… I can't just turn it off. This is who I am."
"Okay then… what the hell are you?" he replied with his brows furrowed.
"I can't tell you that," she smiled.
"…I'm leaving," he declared, turning away.
With the mountain wind rushing through the evergreens, her next words were almost lost, but he barely managed to hear them.
"This world must be fixed. I don't care who has to die or what has to be destroyed, I will see it happen. Don't forget that, Childe."
"Huh?" he growled, turning back towards her.
"I will kill you. That's what I said."
Childe's eyes grew wide, and his stony face crumbled for an instant, revealing that her words had likely stung him. She continued in the exact same gentle tone she had used the whole time, but it suddenly felt incredibly impersonal - devoid of any feeling or human emotion.
"You are a tool. You are not necessary. Remember that before you speak out of turn again."
The brown-haired man stared in shock as Columbina's delicate eyelids flickered, then cracked open almost sleepily.
Revealed underneath were two bright-violet eyes, glowing like hot coals. Her smooth pink lips formed a gentle smile, showing off rows of perfect, pretty white teeth.
"I'm watching you, Childe."
The next instant, she was gone. In a flash of light and dancing feathers, she soared away towards the distant horizon.
At that moment, Childe's strength left him, and he eased himself to the ground.
His chest felt like a roaring bonfire had replaced his heart. Perhaps he didn't fully understand why, but those harsh, emotionless words of hers had cut him straight to the heart, much worse than he would have expected. It should have never been that effective, and the implications of that were most troublesome.
"What the hell is wrong with me?" he whispered.
Ending Theme: ゆよゆっぺ - Melody
His right hand clutched his chest, desperately trying to undo the knot that she had tied in his heartstrings.
But it was already too late. Much, much too late.
Somewhere beyond that blue sky, the flapping of distant angel's wings still resounded in his eardrums.
Next:
Episode 14: Where Time Doth Not Corrupt